TwitReport: Lance Berkman returns to Houston

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Indeed, last night marked the first return trip for Lance Berkman to Houston and Minute Maid Park.

A quick glance at the #stlcards hashtag on Twitter prior to the game seemed to foreshadow a large contingent of Cards being in attendance at MMP, so I reached out to one to provide a first-person account of the crowd response to Berkman.

From @jasongwin:

Well I can’t say it was the outcome I was hoping for. Growing up in STL and now living in Houston at least allows me to see my Redbirds a few times a season, but I have to admit Berkman’s return to “Boooston” has really increased my excitement to attend this series.

We got to Minute Maid in plenty of time to see STL take practice. As always Cardinals Nation was representing well. The few Astros fans at the gate were wearing old Berkman jerseys. I was geared up for a great night of Cardinals baseball.

With beer & dog in hand I watched practice and settled in till the 7:05 start.

During announcement of line ups Berkman got a heart felt applause from the early crowd. Fellow STL fans and I were leading the cheers.

We went down 1-2-3 in the first. With Lance batting 4th we’d have to wait till the top of the second.

To my surprise there was a 50/50 of cheers and boos. There was a real [donkey] sitting behind me that asked why I was a STL fan so I let him know I was born and grew up there & replied how the hell can you boo a player that not only left on his teams request but asked to come back and was denied. His reply was he boos all Cardinals. I replied ok Mr. Phillips enjoy the game.

With every at bat the boos were more and more from the slightly growing crowd. I was really stunned. Living in Houston for over 15 years now I’m fully aware they are a fair weather sports town but I thought this was overkill.

I so wanted to see Lance hit the Crawford Boxes he helped make so famous in Houston, but his top of the 9th inning double was good enough for me, well at least till the bottom of the 9th.

Good news for me is all be at all 3 games of the series, the fans here in Houston can boo Lance all the want, every time he gets a hit off them.

It sounds like Milo Hamilton influenced a few ‘Stros fans after all.

Thanks Jason!

Were you at the game too? Did you hear more cheers or boos? Tell your story in the comments section below!

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Writing about the Cardinals and other loosely associated topics since 2008, I've grown tired of the April run-out only to disappoint Cardinal fans everywhere by mid-May. I do not believe in surrendering free outs.